Developing "Assessment Capable" Learners

Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher and John Hattie

If we want students to take charge of their learning, we can't keep relegating them to a passive role in the assessment process.

Assessment is conventionally thought of as something we do to students. We measure their progress and report it to them, their families, and the public. Enlightened teachers take it a step further, using assessment results within a systematic formative pro-cess to make decisions about future instruction. Groups of these educators may even band together in professional learn-ing communities to make data-driven decisions for their grade level or department. But there is one person whose input is left out of these processes—the student. The person at the center of the discussion is relegated to a passive role.

When we leave students out of assessment considerations, it is akin to fighting with one arm tied behind our backs. We fail to leverage the best asset we have: the learners themselves. What might happen if students were instead at the heart of the assessment process, using goals and results to fuel their own learning? What if they were more assessment capable? (Absolum et al., 2009).